My 60 f250 quit on me the other day. So I did the normal checks i.e. fuel delivery/ spark? fuel is OK. I wasn't getting any spark from the coil. I figured it was a good excuse to convert over to the pertronix electronic ignition and a new 40,000v coil. The cap and rotor are fairly new(both are clean and crack free). After installing the new parts she still isn't firing. I pulled the coil to cap wire and had my son crank the engine while I held the end about 3/16" from the a head bolt. I only got a minor spark at the end of the cranking. the paper work says to disconnect the red wire from the positive side of coil and run a jumper to the positive side of battery. Still nothing. When I checked the resistor wire it showed 5.9 volts. I ran a jumper wire  from the ignition to the coil positive side and still nothing. I even ran a jumper from the positive batery to the positive side of coil. and you quess it NOTHING. Please help. I am not the best when it comes to the electronics side of mechanics. I am sure it is something simple that you guys probably are thinking DUH!!! But my head is about to explode and my eyes are crossed from trying to get a better look at the dist. thanks for any advise.

James

Regards.

Dave

Check the ground as Dave suggested. If you have a multimeter check that you have a fully charged battery. then if you are running the jumper directly to the coil check that you are indeed getting full voltage.  Check your resistance to ground. 

If all is good but still won't run stick your points back in and see if it will run with them. It could be a damaged or faulty Pertronix unit. If it's a igniter I they don't like being left on without the engine running.

You should have 8.5v with the resistor wire.

 Try to keep it to one change at a time. problems compound and it's harder to trouble shoot if you have multiple problems. The Pertronix unit should have gone into a good running engine.

Cheers

Warren 

I will also recheck the resistor wire to see what voltage I am getting. I picked up a new wire after lunch today, so if need be I can replace. This truck has had a lot of grounding issues. I have run multiple grounding cables at various locations. Battery is  recently new,but I will check as well.

You mention it has grounding issues, maybe fit heavy earth lead from bock to frame, simple test is to put a jumper lead from block to frame and check for better spark or contacts etc.

Regards,

Dave

Thats what I was thinking too. So, should I run a new wire from the ignition to the coil? There by eliminating the resistor wire.

The paper work from pertronix is a little confusing. the igniter paper says to leave the resistor in place. the coil paper work says to remove the resistor.

I am putting a charge on the battery. It was showing 12.48v on a fairly new battery. I am also going to pull the igniter out and clean the mounting area again. especially where the ground connects.

Thanks again for the advice

James

Because it only has to ground the points to the block for charging and firing the coil - it has historically worked OK to let the distributor body provide the rest of the grounding circuit. I think it is best for the electronic versions to be fitted with a wire that goes clear out to the block.

James

 Thanks,

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The plus side (batt side) gets the red wire from the Pertronix module in the distributor and also gets the new wire (from ignition).  The 3rd wire is from the start circuit of the ignition switch.  On the original circuit, the start circuit bypasses the resistor and delivers full voltage during cranking (which is really reduced to around 8.5 or 9 volts during cranking).  The 3rd wire might be missing from your installation, but I think you might need to add it because the ignition wire you added might actually "drop out" when you are in the crank mode.  You could test this with a test light on the new circuit you added to see if it blanks out when cranking.

The negative (-) side of the coil gets the black wire from the Pertronix module in the distributor.

Good luck with your installation.

Dave

Sounds retarded to me, advance distributor till engine revs increase slightly, retard dist till engine starts to die then set at middle rpm range, then see if it behaves itself.

BTW my system had the resistor removed before I bought the car it runs full battery voltage to the coil via the ignition. a Bosch GT40 transistor coil. 

Cheers

Warren  

This diagram below shows the location of the "starting jumper" that Ford and others used for many years. It provides direct battery power to the coil (+) terminal when the starter solenoid is engaged. You just don't want (or need) the ballast resistance in the ignition feed. So long as the coil has 1.5 OHMs in the primary it will lower the AMPs enough for the Pertronix module.

The (-) post goes back to the Pertronix module.

How old is the gas in your outfit - we've all been suffering lately from letting our toys sit with "modern" junk gas in them.

Thanks guys.

James

I have installed new plug wires. It still did not want to run . So, I move on to resetting timing. It's been about thirty years since I timed an engine by ear. I got it to run much better. But as soon as i hook the vacuum line back to the governor on the carb it starts to run rough and has slow throttle response. Could it be the vacuum advance failing?

Jumping teeth is pretty unheard of in y blocks, Chucks suggestion is closer to the mark, either work out TDC with plug removed and mark on edge of belt pulley and time it by ear or the new marks. Book timing is for new to engines in good condition and does not apply exactley with all the worn components running together. Why not bypass governer operation if possible. Just my view.